Columbus Turns to Spain After Portugal turned him down, Columbus traveled to Spain. There, he tried to convince Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand V to fund his journey across the Atlantic Ocean. At first they refused. In 1492, however, they changed their minds.

Spanish Christians had finally captured Granada and completed the Reconquista. The final defeat of the Moors inspired Ferdinand and Isabella to look beyond their own borders for wealth and glory. Columbus’s plan offered a chance to gain both. He promised to find a route to China and India. Such a route could lead to tremendous riches and a chance to spread the Catholic faith. Better still, Spain’s success would come at the expense of its rival, Portugal.

Columbus’s First Voyage of Discovery Columbus did not reach China or India. A little more than two months after leaving Spain in 1492, he arrived on the shores of a land that no one in Europe even knew existed. Columbus had landed on an island in the Caribbean Sea. This landing was the first encounter that Europeans had with the Americas.

On this first journey, however, Columbus believed that he had reached India. He met the indigenous (in-dih-juh-nus), or native, people who lived on the islands, and he called them “Indians.”

In time, Columbus returned to Spain. His mission to find a direct route to Asia had failed. Yet Ferdinand and Isabella were not disappointed. In fact, they were pleased. Columbus had returned with samples of America’s riches. He not only brought back gold, he also brought back several captive Indians. The king and queen believed that America would provide the wealth they had hoped to find in Asia. The Spanish soon sent other adventurers to the newly discovered land.

The Way of the Spanish Soldier Becoming a soldier was a way for Spanish men to achieve a better life. When a soldier defeated his enemies, he took their wealth. Being a mighty warrior also was a way to win honor. Over the centuries, Spanish soldiers learned that war could bring wealth and glory. After conquering a territory, they did not settle down and earn a living off the land. Instead, they took whatever riches the land had to offer and then marched off to the next conquest.

Fighting for God, Gold, and Glory After they defeated the Moors, Spanish soldiers lost their purpose. The enemy they had fought against for centuries was gone. For some of those soldiers, however, retirement lasted only a short while. Having spent their entire lives battling to retake their own land, they now looked for new lands to conquer.

Soon, Spanish soldiers began sailing to the Americas. The leaders of these soldiers were called conquistadors (kohn-kees-tah-dorz), or conquerors. They took with them their tradition of war and conquest. They believed that their labor was the work of God. The Spanish thought it was their Christian religious duty to defeat all nonbelievers. Such victories brought glory to God and their country.

The conquistadors had two main goals. They wanted to convert the Indians to the Catholic faith. They also wanted to gain wealth and glory for themselves and for Spain.